the tales and trials of a twenty-something

Tag Archives: William Strunk Jr.

The process of interviewing for a job is a lot like being on the show, “The Voice.”

Thanks to YouTube, your talents are recognized and they invite you to audition

With their backs facing you, you perform so they can hear you “sing”

If they liked what they heard, their chairs turn around so they can look at you

Then they put you on the show

You lose or…

You win and no one hears from you again

On the off chance that Christina Aguilera and Cee-Lo aren’t vying for your vocal chords, the job process goes as follows:

Your parents tell you to apply for a job

You go onto LinkedIn

You apply for a job

If you aren’t a complete fuck-up, you get an email asking when they can call you for a phone interview

If the phone interview goes well, they invite you to come into the office and meet with the people you would potentially be working with

Then they drag it out for two weeks and tell you that they decided to hire someone internally

Rinse (cry) and repeat

Step 6 happened yesterday.

I wish I didn’t have to hold back and be professional when talking with recruiters/interviewers. I want to be real with them and be able to say, “Listen sister (or brother), Let’s not beat around the bush here. No one likes bullshit. I’m not going to apply for a job that I am underqualified for and you wouldn’t have brought me in here if you didn’t think I was qualified. I know you know I’m not stupid. I will do this job better than anyone else. I’m a buried fucking treasure. You can take my word for it. Thank you.” Maybe I’ll change my cover letter to just that followed by my second favorite quote when it comes to writing*,

“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.”

-William Strunk Jr., Elements of Style

I think my next blog post will just be a screenshot of my resume.

* My first favorite quote regarding writing is by one of my favorite authors, KV, “Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”